Hunter 310 info
Until trading her in on a 2005 H36, I had (and enjoyed) a 1999 H310.The best I could consistenly get under sail with her was 7.4 knots on a beam reach. Pretty good for a 28ft DWL. She's a little tender re initial stability, but has a 38% balast ratio and popped back up easily from 45 degrees on my cockpit inclinometer (why is another story <g>). However, unless you like rails-awash 35 degree heel, just reef at 15 knots of wind. (She'll sail faster with 20-25 degrees of heel, anyway.)I had the stock 2-blade prop, and got 7 knots at 3400 RPM - the "no-more-than-one-hour" speed according to Yanmar. It was a noisy little engine, but would go at 3200 RPM for ever, while only sipping diesel. (The 25 gal tank was good for about 300 miles at 2400 RPM, as I recall. I used to like to keep it revved a bit more, as diesels like, and usually figured 10 miles per gal.)My 310 had no topping lift, and relied on the lazy jacks to perform that function. Since they were only 2-leg lazy jacks, I had to experiment quite a bit on placement of the aft mounting point to get the mainsail to flake well on dropping between the very tight lazy jack lines caused by the weight of the boom. The lower two battens were only leach battens, and tended to catch on the lazy jacks on the way up if you weren't careful.One caveat about 310s, however. While the lazarettes are weather-sealed and latchable, none of the cockpit lockers are, and they feed right into your after cabin. By all means, add weather seals and latches. The rubber draw latches used on the lazarettes are fine for the job, and only cost about $10 each from McMaster Carr.If you get pooped as I did crossing the Merrimac river entrance bar against full ebb after Hurricane Jeanne, you'll be _very_ glad you corrected that down-flooding hazard by adding the seals and latches.If you (easily) add a pair of ST40s on the cockpit coaming for spinnaker use, just going to slighlty longer jib sheets will also allow you to make a great little single-hander of her.I'd better stop before I get too nostalgic about mine. I think you'll like yours, Harv.